BMW overtakes Tesla as Europe’s electric car leader

Sales of BMW electric cars oustripped Tesla in July, placing the German firm at the top of the European EV market for the first time

BMW’s pure EV registrations jumped 36% year-on-year last month, with the iX1 SUV and i4 saloon performing particularly well, reflecting a strong growth in the BMW group’s EV performance since the start of the year.

In contrast, Tesla – which often registers its cars in large batches – saw a 16% year-on-year drop in Model Y sales and a 17% reduction in sales of the Model 3 in July. Despite this slip, the Model Y and Model 3 continue to dominate the year-to-date rankings and the Model Y remained the best-selling individual model, shipping more than 9,500 models in July 2024. In contrast, BMW’s biggest selling individual model was the iX1, which sold 4,305 examples.

The July figures revealed similarly varied fortunes for other car makers as overall BEV registrations slipped across Europe. BMW rival Audi enjoyed a 27% increase in sales of the Q4 e-tron, which came in just behind the BMW i4, with almost 4,000 unit sales.

Volvo also enjoyed a strong month, with the EX30 taking second spot in the overall registration rankings with 6,573 sales.

However, Volkswagen saw a 40% drop in demand for the ID.4 – still the region’s third most registered EV – and the related Skoda Enyaq slipped 27%.

MG, which has enjoyed huge growth in recent years, also saw a 33% slip in year-on-year figures for its MG4 hatchback.

Overall, EV registrations across Europe were down 6% compared with July 2023, which experts put down to uncertainty around purchase prices and slipping secondhand values.

JATO Dynamics global analyst, Felipe Munoz said that uncertainty about harsh new tariffs on EVs imported from China was affecting brands like MG and the wider EV market.

He commented.: “The lack of clarity around the incentives for – and future of – EVs continues to present a barrier to consumers considering an EV. These factors, alongside the low residual value of EVs contributed to the decline seen in July.”